Friends – Season 9 Premiere

“Just Let Me Have My Friends!”

Friends airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. Check local listings.

Thursday nights at 8 p.m. are sacred. I don’t go anywhere, answer the phone or even walk the dog. Instead, I plop down on the couch, cover up with an afghan and watch Friends. Now being that Stomp Tokyo is mostly a B-movie/Sci-Fi website, I know I’ll be burned for liking this show. But I have a right to my own opinion.

Call it shallow, call it empty humor, call it stupid, but the cast and writers must be doing something right to snag the actors one million an episode, place consistently in the Nielsen Top Ten and win a recent Emmy for Best Comedy. Where’s Star Trek?

Yes, I agree that it’s a little strange that these adorable thirty-somethings do nothing all day but hang out in a coffeehouse and live in dream Manhattan apartments that in real life all their salaries combined couldn’t afford. But remember this is television. Come on, people. Let art flow. Let entertainment breathe. Just let it be.

Friends is fun and easy to watch, especially for a TV retard like me. It’s nice to let go of a bad day at work and visit for a little while with Monica, Rachel, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler and Ross. In some small way, they make it all better. Like the title song says, “I’ll be there for you.” Yes . . . yes, you certainly will. And the same goes for me.

We left off last season with Rachel having her and Ross’s baby, Emma. After all the excitement of the birth, we were left with (as usual) a cruel cliffhanger. Ross was going to propose to Rachel, but Joey, who is also in love with her, found the ring first when it fell out of Ross’s coat pocket. As he turns around to show it to her, Rachel assumes that Joey is proposing. So the camera zooms in on her saying, “Okay.”

Okay? “Okay” – yes, I will marry you or “okay” - I see a ring? We haven’t a clue. So all summer we have been waiting for the real answer. What will Joey’s reaction be? Who will marry whom? It all came down to thirty minutes on September 26. Everyone comes clean in the season nine premiere. Are you ready? Got your snacks? Here we go.

Rachel did say yes to Joey’s proposal. When this happens, however, everyone enters the room and interrupts Joey as he tries to explain. So the confusion begins and the misunderstandings ensue. Rachel thinks she is engaged to Joey so she tells Phoebe who thinks she’s talking about Ross. Phoebe congratulates Ross, who is confused because he never asked Rachel to marry him. While all this insanity is happening, Monica and Chandler are getting it on in a broom closet trying to make a baby . . . until Monica’s dad (the lovable Elliot Gould) catches them in the act.

The show’s biggest treat of the night is Elliot Gould as Jack Geller. Dear God, how I love this man! He is always a guaranteed laugh. He scored major giggles throughout the episode. From admiring the wrong baby in the nursery to forgetting that he already has a grandchild (Ross’s son, Ben) to his minor problem with gas, the guy cracked me up. He’s a pleasure to watch and we don’t get enough of him during the show. I want Elliot Gould to be my TV dad.

The episode closes with Monica talking to Rachel about marrying Joey. Rachel agrees it’s a bad idea because she isn’t in love with him. Joey clears the air with both Ross and Rachel then leaves. While Ross is talking to Rachel about getting back together, he notices that she’s wearing the ring (she put it on when everyone had left the room earlier). He is a little shocked to discover that Rachel not only took Joey’s proposal seriously, but she seems to have accepted. The show ends with Ross doubting how Rachel really feels about him.

A lot was covered in this episode, but it still leaves you hungry for next week. Will Ross and Rachel get back together? Will Monica and Chandler get pregnant? Will Joey recover from his broken heart? Will Phoebe act all silly and weird? Well, some things you don’t need to question. Between you and me, my brain is exhausted from all this action.

If you are a fan of the show, this was definitely a juicy season opener. I am really looking forward to this ninth season and hoping for a tenth. There has been talk that this year will be the last one for Friends, but I’m still optimistic. No final decisions have been made and I think NBC, as well as the rest of us, need this series. A light comedy is good for the soul.

And don’t knock me for liking this show. I can just as easily unleash the thunder on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But I won’t do that. Not yet anyway. Just let me have my Friends and no one will get hurt.

Loren Faust will watch anything on TV as long as it’s not action or sci-fi.
She also thinks Smurfs are way cool and is better known to most of you as Filmboy’s better half.


posted by Chris at 7:47 PM